Gate



Feb. 22, 1938. M MORTENSEN GATE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 11, 1936jvariiiz/Vorkwem arm/m,

Feb. 22, 1938. MORTENSEN 2,109,300

GATE

Filed MEIGh 11, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheei 2 Marina [Yer-firmer;

Patented Feb. 22, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE GATE MartinMortensen, Verdi, Nev.

, Application March 11, 1936, Serial No. 68,331

1 Claim. (Cl. 39-74) This invention relates to gates, and among cipallyof intertwisted wire strands 22 including other objects, aims to providean improved farm vertical strands 22a and horizontal strands 22b. gatewhich may be manufactured at low cost and The horizontal strands may beof barb wire as be easily erected and which cannot sag when shown inFig. or of any other known type of 5 closed and locked. The inventionhas other obwire used for fencing; and the preferred manner 5 jectswhich will be understood from the followin which the wire strands areunited is clearly ing description of a preferred embodiment shown inFig. 5. The strands 22a, 221) are preferthereof. ably widely spacedapart so that the upper por- In theaccompanying drawings forming a parttion of the gate may be said to be of wire of of this specification,large or open mesh. Also, this upper portion of 10 Fig. l is anelevation of the gate, showing in the gate is connected to the postsindependently dotted lines the locking lever in an unlatched of thelower portion of the gate. As shown, the

position; strands 22b are directly connected with eye-bolts Fig. 2 is atop plan of the same, showing in 23 which preferably are threadedthroughout dotted lines the gate partly open; their length and passthrough apertures in the 15 Fig. 3 is a section on line 33 of Fig. l,but on fence post I0, nuts 24 and 25 securing the eyea larger scale andshowing in dotted lines the bolts against movement in either direction,relagate end member in an alternative position; tive to the fence post.This arrangement permits Fig. 4 is a side elevation of the gate postshown longitudinal adjustment of each of the eye-bolts in Fig. 3, and onthe same scale but viewed from 23, but does not require expensivethreading of go the opposite side; the bores through which the eye-boltsare passed. Fig. 5 is an enlarged detail of part of the wir- It will beclear that each of the horizontal strands ing making up the body of thegate; 22?) may be individually adjusted for tension, so Fig. 6 is asection on line 6-6 of Fig. l; and as to cause the upper part of thegate to stand Fig. 7 is a section on line 'l-'I of Fig. l. erect or liein a substantially vertical plane. The 25 Referring particularly to thedrawings, there opposite ends of the strands 22b are individually isshown a farm gate comprising two gate posts connected with short lengthsof chains 26, whose I0, II, the post Ill swingably supporting the gate,other ends are secured to the gate end member which is preferably,though not necessarily, 2I in such a way that the chain lengths 26 may30 formed of two different sections of fence Wire, be wrapped aroundsaid gate end member when 30 the lower section I2 being of much finermesh the latter is rotated about its longitudinal axis. than the uppersection to be described. The wire Secured to the gate post II next theupper end I2 is joined to vertical pipe sections I3 and I4 at thereofand projecting longitudinally therefrom either end, the pipe section I3being rotatable is a hook shaped member 21, the hook end of 5 within theeyes I5a of eye-bolts I5, which pass which is open on the side towardswhich the gate through the post In and are secured by nuts I6. swings asit closes. Said hook-like member is Pins ll which are passed through thepipe secadapted to receive and hold the gate end memtion l3, support thepipe section on the eye-bolts ber H and yet permit axial rotation of thegate as shown in Fig. 6. The post I0 may be a section end member as willbe described. The lower end of a pipe of large diameter or it may be asolid of the gate end member is adapted to be received 40 wood post. Ifa pipe is used, after the gate has within a support provided by a U-bolt28 (best been erected the interior of the pipe comprising shown in Fig.7) having an intermediate prong the post may be filled with Portlandcement to or arm 28a below the plane of the U-bolt and increase therigidity of the post and also to proadapted to provide a support for thelower end tect the bolts which are secured to the post as of gate endmember 2|, as clearly shown. Nuts 45 described herein. The outer pipesection I4 is 29 and 3D and the necessary fillers may be prosupported bymeans of eye-bolts I8 secured by vided as shown to secure the U-boltmember 28 nuts I9 to the pipe section and connected by adjustably to thegate post II, or if desired, the short chain lengths 20 to a gate endmember 2I U-bolt 28 including the arm 28a may be permawhich is alsopreferably a pipe section. Thus the nently secured to the post I I as bywelding. The outer end of the lower fence wire section I2 is gate endmember 2| obviously can rotate when supported from the end member 2Iwhich in turn engaged with the hook member 21 and the U-bolt issupported by the gate post II in a manner to member 28 and still bothmembers cooperate to be described. hold the gate end member H in aproper position The upper part of the gate is composed prinrelative tothe gate post II and so as to hold the 55 upper and lower sections 22,I2 of the gate in stretched or tensioned condition.

In order to lock the gate when closed, the gate end member 2| has alongitudinal slot 3| in which a lever arm 32 may swing as clearly shownin Fig. 1. Lever arm 32 is pivoted on a horizontal pin 33 which ispassed through gate end member 2| near the lower end of slot 3| andhence swings vertically and is so positioned that it may enter a recess34 provided in the top of the gate post H and then may fit snugly into aslot 35 provided at the bottom of the recess 34. When the lever arm 32is pushed down- Wardly into slot 35 it will prevent rotation of the gateend member 2| to which it is attached. Obviously, however, it isnecessary to rotate the gate end member 2| and hence to tighten the gatesections I2 and 22 by means of their chains 20 and 26 respectivelybefore engaging the lever 32 with the slot 35. Thus the lever armprovides a convenient means for tightening or tensioning the gate andalso to latch or lock the same.

When the lever arm 32 is in gate locking position, it is sometimesadvisable to secure the same against tampering and hence a latch finger36 mounted on a pin 31 on gate post I has its upper end passed throughan aperture in lever arm 32 as shown in Fig. 4. A padlock 38 may bepassed through one end of the latch finger 36 and may be connected by achain 39 to a plate 4|) welded to the gate post II. It will be clearthat the latch finger 36 will prevent the lever arm 32 from rising dueto any reaction of the gate on the lever arm. A pin 4| secured to thegate end member 2| is adapted to fit under the hook-like member 21 tohold the gate down with the end member 2| firmly seated in the support28, 28a.

Obviously the pin 4| is brought into engagement with the underside ofthe hook-like member 21 when the gate end member 2| is rotated in theproper direction by the lever arm 32.

The described gate is so made that it may always be in tension, andhence sagging is never necessary and can be Wholly eliminated, even ifone of the fence posts should lean a little out of plumb. The gate hasthe further advantage that its wire body may be renewed, at littleexpense. Ordinary fence wiring may be used for either or both sectionsof the gate body. The gate is light in weight, and hence is easy toswing open and closes without difficulty because of the leverageafforded by the locking lever. Nearly all the parts which go to make upthe gate are easily obtainable anywhere, and the few special parts arenot difficult to make. The gate has other advantages and features whichare more or less obvious and hence need not be pointed out.

It will be clear that the present invention is not limited to thepreferred embodiment herein shown and described.

Having described one embodiment of my invention, what I claim as new anddesire to secure by Letters Patent is:-

In a gate, in combination with a. pair of fixed gate posts, a flexiblegate connected to one of the posts and adapted to be locked to the otherpost; a lever secured to the gate at its free end in such a way that thelever may be swung to tighten or loosen the gate, said lever beingdirectly engageable with the other gate post to hold the gate intension; said other gate post having a slot in its top providing akeeper for the lever, which is swung vertically down into the slot.

MARTIN MORTENSEN.

